Tag: Blade Runner 2049

Director Denis Villeneuve has come under criticism for the representation of female characters in Blade Runner 2049, specifically, the importance placed on female reproduction, the patriarchal dystopia depicted in the film, how the most prominent female characters were highly sexualized and how they died before the movie ended.

Villeneuve has addressed criticism of the film, telling Vanity Fair, “I am very sensitive to how I portray women in movies. This is my tenth feature film and six of them have women in the lead role. The first Blade Runner was quite rough on the women; something about the film noir aesthetic. But I tried to bring depth to all the characters. For Joi, the holographic character, you see how she evolves. It’s interesting, I think.”

Image via Forbes

According to the movie’s IMDB Trivia page, only four human characters appear in the movie: Rick Deckard (if believed to be human, which I do: Ford uses doors while Gosling runs straight through the damn walls), Lieutenant Joshi, Niander Wallace, and Gaff (Edward James Olmos), though this is up for debate, as arguably the most important character in the film, Dr. Ana Stelline, is at best half-human.

“Cinema is a mirror on society. Blade Runner is not about tomorrow; it’s about today. And I’m sorry, but the world is not kind on women,” said Villeneuve, adding, “There’s a sense in American cinema: you want to portray an ideal world. You want to portray a utopia. That’s good — dreams for a better world, to advocate for something better, yes. But if you look at my movies, they are exploring today’s shadows. The first Blade Runner is the biggest dystopian statement of the last half century. I did the follow-up to that, so yes, it’s a dystopian vision of today. Which magnifies all the faults. That’s what I’ll say about that.”

Villeneuve chose not to comment further, but I will.

First of all, a big ol’ L O L at “the importance of female reproduction”. Did critics even watch the movie? The importance of reproduction in the film stems from bridging the gap between human and machine and the child born from the love of Ford’s Deckard and Sean Young’s Rachel.

Second, the patriarchal dystopia depicted in the film can’t be blamed on the director of the sequel, so criticism of the director should really be directed at Philip K. Dick, who wrote the novel, Hampton Fancher and David Peoples, who wrote the original screenplay, and Ridley Scott, who directed the 1982 original.

Image via Engadget

In terms of highly sexualized female characters, critics must be talking about the “threesome” featuring Joi, K, and Mariette. I could understand if it was a gratuitous sex scene, but it really isn’t. Joi hires Mariette because she is physically unable to give herself to the man she loves. She doesn’t possess a physical form of her own, so she rents one. She doesn’t watch from the sidelines, she actively participates. You’d think that people would appreciate a female AI entity who has hopes, dreams, and desires of her own, just like a human woman would, rather than a Sexy Siri, but that’s neither here nor there.

Furthermore, critics have drawn attention to how female characters died before the end of the movie, but did they ignore how the movie literally ends with Gosling’s K bleeding out in the snow? This isn’t a movie with a happy ending, unless of course, you’re Deckard and you’ve just been introduced to your long lost daughter.

I loved Blade Runner 2049, as a standalone film and as a sequel, and the movie’s IMDB rating confirms that I’m not the only one. With over 150,000 ratings, the film is holding strong with an 8.4/10. Definitely go see it, see it again, and maybe another time or two, you’ll be happy you did.

Fall is here, book lovers. As nice as it was to sit outside in the sun and read our books, we’ll now have to deal with leaves falling on our heads or slipping on leaves or choking on leaves. There’s a general danger surrounding the presence of leaves. The only place to find solace is inside a movie theater. Luckily, October has many film adaptations of books (and movies about writers) in store for us.

October 6

Blade Runner 2049

Image Via Warner Bros.

This one’s a sequel to the 1982 sci-fi classic Blade Runner, which was based on Philip K. Dick’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? Ryan Gosling, Harrison Ford, and Jared Leto star, and it’s directed by Arrival’s Denis Villeneuve. It’s unclear how much inspiration 2049 will draw from Dick’s book, but the trailer does seem to include some things the original Blade Runner left out.

The Mountain Between Us

Image Via 20th Century Fox

Kate Winslet and Idris Elba co-star in the movie based on a novel of the same name by Charles Martin. Winslet and Elba play two strangers who are forced to take a charter flight together. The charter flight crashes. Though they survive, the pair are then forced to try and make out of the wilderness alive.

October 13

The Foreigner

Image Via STXFilms

Based on the novel The Foreigner (previously published as The Chinaman) by Stephen Leather, Jackie Chan stars in this movie that’s…basically Taken with Jackie Chan. Yeah, that’s about it. Check out the trailer here if you need more convincing, which, what’s wrong with you, you shouldn’t.

Goodbye Christopher Robin

Image Via Fox Searchlight Pictures

A. A. Milne, creator of Winnie-the-Pooh, is getting his own biopic. It looks really sad from the trailer. It actually looks unreasonably sad considering it’s ultimately about a talking teddy bear. Nicholas Barber, film critic for BBC, called it ‘a wolf in teddy bear clothing.’ Still, maybe you want to see it.

Professor Marston & The Wonder Women

Image Via Annapurna Pictures

Did you know it was a psychologist who created Wonder Woman? Because it was, and a movie is now coming out about his life. The film follows Professor William Marston’s relationship with his wife and mistress, and, of course, the creation of Wonder Woman. Hot off the success of DC’s Wonder Woman solo film, this one will surely scoop up the comic fans.

October 20

The Snowman

Image Via Universal Pictures

Based on the novel of the same name by Jo Nesbø, this mystery follows a detective who’s investigating the disappearance of a girl, which is somehow connected to some creepy snowmen. Starring Michael Fassbender, and coming from Tomas Alfredson (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Let the Right One In), this will definitely be quality.

Same Kind of Different as Me

Image Via Paramount Pictures

Based on the non-fiction book of the same name by Ron Hall, Denver Moore, and Lynn Vincent, this is the touching story of how an art dealer and a modern-day slave become close friends. It’s a true story, and the book was co-written by the two friends, Ron Hall and Denver Moore. The movie stars Renée Zellweger, Djimon Hounsou, and Greg Kinnear.

Wonderstruck

Image Via FilmNation Entertainment

Based on the novel of the same name by Brian Selznick, this movie follows a young girl in New York City from about fifty years ago who’s attempting to solve a mystery. Interestingly, the story simultaneously follows a contemporary young Midwestern boy who is still trying to unravel the mystery.

It’s been a while since Ryan Gosling has graced our screens. Okay, it hasn’t even been a year but in Gosling-deprivation time that is a while.

Based on Philip K. Dick’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Blade Runner has been beloved by sci-fi fans since its release in 1982. Now it’s about to get a whole new following with its long-awaited sequel Blade Runner 2049.

Dick’s novel is a fairly quick read, but there is a deep mythos behind it. The original Blade Runner didn’t touch much on the off-world colonies or widespread destruction in Dick’s book but based on what we’ve seen from Blade Runner 2049, the new movie will continue to flesh out Dick’s expansive image of the future.

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